Santiago Peña, (Asunción, 1978), visited Spain last week to promote two projects in search of financing. One of them, called the Resurgence of the Giant and the other focused on the green hydrogen sector, aim to position the country at the epicenter of South America and on the international agenda in terms of energy and investment. Peña has granted an interview to La Vanguardia, during his visit to Barcelona.
What is the reason for this ambitious plan that calls Paraguay a “giant”?
The current situation in Paraguay is far from the potential that the country itself has. Paraguay cannot be compared with a Latin American country, since, even though it does not have a maritime coastline, it is a country that is surrounded by gigantic rivers that irrigate the lands, that mobilize our products and produce clean and renewable energy. This puts Paraguay in the lead as the only country in the world that has 100% of its energy from renewable sources and that exports 80% of the surplus energy it produces at competitive prices.
In more than 500 years of history, we have gone from being the epicenter of the development of expeditions over the centuries, to in 1864, being a nation attacked by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. These three countries had the intention of eliminating Paraguay from the face of the earth, but they could not, although we were left to our fate by international support after the war. This explains why our recovery process has been so slow.
This process is comparable to the journey that took Moses for 40 years towards the Promised Land, in which he went around in circles many times trying to get rid of bad habits. Paraguay is in this process and that is where the “Resurgence of the Giant” comes from.
And after the historical perspective of the country. What is the situation in Paraguay currently?
After 35 years since the return to democracy, we have demonstrated that we have a simpler and more agile political system than that of our neighbors, Brazil and Argentina. This efficiency explains the economic growth we are experiencing, attracting new investments and generating employment. Although we believe that this is still just beginning.
Lacking direct access to the sea and needing neighboring countries for export. What is your relationship like with your neighbors Javier Milei and Lula da Silva?
It’s super good. Paraguay has historical roots that have allowed Paraguayan society to have a balance and not feel seduced by the right or frightened by the left. This balance has allowed Paraguay to have an excellent relationship with Brazil and with the president of Argentina. Personally, I have a great relationship with Lula da Silva, as well as with Milei, although they do not understand each other.
Will the green hydrogen project have any impact on the electoral promise of lowering fuel and energy prices?
Since we came to Government on August 15, we have reduced the price of fuel by nearly 20%. Obviously, the price responds to fluctuations in the price of oil, but as Paraguay has lower tax rates [of 10%] than Brazil and Argentina, this allows us to have very high quality fuel at a more competitive price.
Now, in relation to green hydrogen, Paraguay is being a destination for these new investments, due to our prices and the abundance of water we have.
Continuing with electoral promises, one of them was greater security. How are you working on it?
The problem of security is the great challenge that all nations have; there is no development without security. In the case of Paraguay, we are working together with Brazil and Argentina on the problem of transnational crime, strengthening control mechanisms.
One of the internal measures has been to strengthen the LINCE unit, [a security force that acts with its face covered and without identification], capable of responding in 10 minutes. In addition, we have taken control of the Tucumbú prison [the prison in the Paraguayan capital suffered a riot between October and December 2023] and we have redistributed the 600 most dangerous criminals, thus reducing urban crime, which was controlled from the prisons. .
And, in relation to violence against women?
We are fighting, although like all Latin American countries, we are doing little. We are working on how to unite all institutions so that they know how to address complaints filed by women. In addition, we have promoted many women to higher positions within the national police, giving them a different face within the police hierarchy. It is a topic that we are taking very seriously.
At the international level, what is Paraguay’s vision of the war between Russia and Ukraine?
Paraguay’s position regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine is that of a very fluid political and economic relationship with Russia and non-existent with Ukraine. But in this conflict we raise our voice in support of Ukraine, because we feel there is a moral responsibility to raise the voice of a smaller country that has been invaded by a larger country.
If we talk about Ukraine and Russia, it inevitably leads us to ask about Paraguay’s position on the situation between Israel and Palestine.
We have maintained a historical relationship with Israel, in fact, Paraguay was the decisive vote in the vote at the United Nations for the creation of the State of Israel. In the conflict that Israel is currently pitting against Hamas, we support Israel’s right to defend itself, we have condemned the terrorist attack and of course we very much regret the extension of the conflict and the loss of human life in the Gaza Strip.
But Paraguay has been, and I personally am, very critical of the failure of the multilateral system, in which the United Nations and other bodies have been incapable of resolving these decades-old conflicts. But we hope that this can be resolved as quickly as possible, advocating for the two-state solution.
